Growing enrolment through partnerships

Higher education marketing efforts are shifting dramatically to meet enrolment goals. Graduate school enrolment marketing has become much more challenging in recent years with explosive growth in programmes and increases in the costs to acquire students through various marketing channels. The marketing mix needs to include a variety of methods including digital and direct in-person marketing. Partnership marketing, in combination with other marketing tactics, can help reach enrolment goals and improve marketing efficacy. This paper highlights key strategies for developing a partnership programme at an institution. To start the process, different partnership models must be considered, and this paper provides recommendations for various options. Once a model is selected, an institution must consider developing the offering and the package they will present to prospective partners. After solidifying a partnership, it will be important to both maintain and build the relationship through various marketing and recruitment channels. It is important to think of the marketing staff and the recruitment staff as a team. The marketing efforts in support of recruitment goals need to be synergistic. To ensure that the team is successful, it will be important to track and measure campaigns. Prior to launching the partner programme, build a set of metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success. The metrics utilised for these KPIs need to estimate the conversion rates as prospects move through the buyer’s journey to become students. There is a need to constantly evaluate and modify the approach to maintain a successful partnership programme. Be sure to work with the partners and team members to identify what the market is looking for from an organisation, and adapt to meet their needs. By continuously improving the model, partnership marketing could be an important channel for lead generation and ultimately new student enrolments.